1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system for providing security for purchase transactions made over a network and more particularly to an improved security system that only stores and provides encrypted information. Additionally, the invention relates to a system for providing customer controlled rules, including time and value limits, for purchase transactions made over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
The increase in popularity of personal computers and of networks connecting personal computers has caused a dramatic increase in electronic commerce (e-Commerce) in recent decades. One example of a very popular network is the World Wide Web (WWW) or Internet. However, one aspect that has been hampering e-commerce is the inability to provide a convenient and secure payment system.
Many conventional e-commerce payment systems require elaborate passwords/encoding algorithms that are cumbersome and not user-friendly. Other conventional e-commerce payment systems require all parties involved to agree on a security format. Such systems suffer from the disadvantage that only those parties that have joined the “club” and have agreed to the specific encoding format can participate. Considering the rate at which merchant sites are being added and withdrawn from current networks (e.g., Internet), requiring merchants to agree on a specific format is unrealistic.
Other e-commerce payment systems require prepayments to a third-party vendor that, in turn, issues a coded credit against that deposit. Besides creating yet another layer to online transactions, these “wallet” and “Internet cash” programs also create another layer of exposure for the customer's information. Additionally, these systems require that both the customer and merchant register to participate in the various versions of these systems.
Still other e-commerce payment systems require the user to purchase specific hardware (e.g., a credit card reader) that is proprietary in nature and awkward to install and use. In addition, the user is required to transport the hardware device if purchases are to be made at other computers, which hampers this type of payment system.
No matter the payment system, the common thread shared by conventional systems is that the customer must provide private information in order to complete a transaction—to the merchant, to a potential third-party, and to the merchant's financial institution. This requirement is the biggest impediment to conventional systems because of the exposure to the customer, perceived or otherwise. Whether the customer obtains additional hardware or merely entrusts private information to third-party vendors, the customer's information ends up stored in someone else's database. The vulnerability of these stored records is a matter of deep concern to potential customers and to policy makers.
The problem is a matter of how many times a customer must expose private, sensitive, and/or confidential information in order to transact business over a network environment such as the Internet.